Report: Russian marketplaces begin blocking users who connect via VPN
Russian marketplaces Wildberries and Ozon, along with the online grocery retailer VkusVill, have begun restricting access for users connected to popular VPN services, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reports.
Logging in with a VPN enabled remains technically possible, the outlet writes, but product listings, images, and descriptions fail to load, and users encounter difficulties completing purchases.
The marketplaces have likely begun deliberately filtering traffic, Izvestia writes, citing industry sources.
“This isn’t about minor tweaks — it’s about rebuilding the infrastructure: adding redundant channels, additional filtering layers, and new user identification mechanisms,” one source told Izvestia.
Sources said businesses are bearing additional costs, forced to spend resources on reducing regulatory risks and keeping services running under conditions of uncertainty.
The effects of such measures could extend beyond e-commerce, experts warned Izvestia. “The market could face additional pressure — from logistics to demand,” an industry representative told the outlet.
Another source said the restrictions target “the most popular services and their free versions” specifically. A full block on VPN users would not be in the platforms’ own interest, the source said.
Izvestia did not specify which VPN services trigger the access restrictions.
Meduza journalists found that the Wildberries and Ozon websites worked normally with various VPNs. Wildberries was accessible outside Russia even without a VPN, while Ozon would not load without one.
Meduza readers in Russia reported on April 5 that for several hours, certain websites — including Wildberries, Yandex, VK, and Mail.Ru — would not open with a VPN enabled.
In the spring of 2026, Russian authorities were not only attempting to block Telegram and restricting mobile internet access — they also moved against VPN services. In late March, Digital Development Ministry head Maksut Shadaev said the ministry had been tasked with reducing Russians’ use of VPNs. Forbes reported that Shadaev, at a meeting attended by representatives of VK, the Russian classifieds platform Avito, Wildberries, and the Russian technology company Yandex, called on online platforms to restrict access to their services for users connecting via VPN. The Russian business daily Kommersant reported that the Digital Development Ministry threatened to remove platforms that failed to comply from its “white lists” — the registry of sites that remain accessible during mobile internet restrictions.
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